Article 5. Lapsation of California Education Code >> Division 3. >> Title 2. >> Part 21. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 5.

(a) Any school district which has been organized for more than three years shall be lapsed as provided in this article if the number of registered electors in the district is less than six or if the average daily attendance of pupils in the school or schools maintained by the district is less than six in grades 1 through 8 or is less than 11 in grades 9 through 12, except that for any unified district which has established and continues to operate at least one senior high school, the board of supervisors shall defer the lapsation of the district for one year upon a written request of the governing board of the district and written concurrence of the county committee. The board of supervisors shall make no more than three such deferments.
  (b) For a newly organized school district that has been unable to provide the school facilities necessary for instructional services by employees of the district to all of the pupils who are residents of the district after five years from the date that the reorganization became effective, the county committee on school district organization, upon direction from the State Board of Education, shall initiate lapsation procedures pursuant to Section 35783 or revert the reorganized district to its original status.
  (c) A school district may also be lapsed when there are no school facilities or sites on which to maintain any school in the district.

For purposes of this article, "lapse" means an action to dissolve a school district and annex the entire territory of that district to one or more adjoining school districts.

The attendance of pupils residing in a unified district in high schools in an adjoining state pursuant to Section 44618 or Article 1 (commencing with Section 2000) of Chapter 7 of Part 2, shall be deemed for the purposes of this article to be in high schools established and maintained by the unified district.

Within 45 days before the close of each school year, the county committee shall conduct a public hearing on the issues specified in Section 35780. Notice of the public hearing shall be given at least 10 days in advance of the hearing to each member of the governing board of the lapsed district immediately before its lapsation, to each of the governing boards that adjoin the lapsed district, and to the high school district of which the lapsed elementary district is a component.

After the hearing, and at least 30 days before the end of the school year, the county committee shall order the territory annexed to one or more adjoining districts as seems to the county committee to be in the best interest of the adjoining districts and the residents of the lapsed district.

If the county committee orders the territory of a lapsed district annexed to more than one adjoining district, it may provide for such a division of the funds, property, and obligations of the lapsed district as it deems most equitable in the circumstances. If no division is provided for by the committee, the general provisions of Article 7 (commencing with Section 35560) of Chapter 3 shall apply to the division of funds, property, and obligations of the lapsed district.

Following the order of the county committee, the county superintendent of schools shall give notice of the board action to the county board of supervisors and to the State Board of Education.

An order of a county committee attaching the territory of a lapsed school district to one or more adjoining school districts shall be effective for all purposes on the July 1 after date of the order. Notwithstanding Section 35534, the effective date of the order is not subject to compliance with Section 54900 of the Government Code. Compliance with Section 54900 of the Government Code is required by December 1 of the year in which the order is made.

Except as otherwise provided in this article, an action to lapse a school district is subject to the provisions of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 35500), and the county committee may add to its order to lapse a school district, pursuant to Section 35783, appropriate provisions specified in Article 3 (commencing with Section 35730).